Iona Preparatory School Celebrated 103rd Commencement Exercises on May 26

Iona Preparatory’ s Upper School graduated 194 young men during its 103rd Commencement Exercises on Thursday, May 26th at Iona College in New Rochelle. The roughly 90-minute ceremony featured valedictory and salutatory addresses from Andrew Tornatore, 17 from Eastchester (100.22 GPA) and Sean Johnson, 17 from Bedford (99.4 GPA).  Collectively, the class has amassed $36,284,684 million in academic scholarships, with more than 77 percent of the 194 graduates receiving merit-based awards averaging $55,651 per scholarship.

Andrew Tornatore, Valedictorian, 17, Eastchester will be heading to Vanderbilt University with a 100.22 GPA and 9 total Advanced Placement Courses in tow.  He is a member of our Superior Talent Enrichment Program, National Honor Society, and the National Foreign Language Honor Society.  Andrew is the founder and co-president of our Biology Club, co-president of the Nutrition for Fruition Club, a Gold Team Peer Minister, a member of our swimming and diving team and a veteran of Mission Peru.  He was chosen by esteemed faculty to Rep the Prep during Iona Prep’s Middle States Re-Accreditation process this past fall.  This recipient of the Harvard Book Prize is no stranger to the microphone, having served as the MC for the school’s annual President’s Dinner back in November.

Sean Johnson, Salutatorian, 17, Bedford is a Carnegie Mellon-bound senior is president of the Chemistry Club, a member of National Honor Society and a Gold Team Peer Minister.  He finishes his academic career with a 99.4 GPA and 7 Advanced Placement exams to his name.  Athletically, he competes for the newly minted Westchester County Champion track and field team in the javelin.  During his freshman year, Sean started an after-school chess program at the Don Bosco Community Center in Port Chester and has been teaching lessons there ever since. His brother Christopher Johnson, now at Duke University, was the 2021 Valedictorian.

Recommended for reaccreditation by the Middle States Association of Colleges & Schools in 2021, Iona Preparatory School PK-12 sits on 37 acres of suburban green in New Rochelle, N.Y., where it educates young men to be moral and ethical leaders. Iona Preparatory School is a Catholic community inspired by the charism of Blessed Edmund Rice as expressed in the Essential Elements of a Christian Brothers Education. We develop young men into moral and ethical leaders who are dedicated to Christian service and who strive for spiritual, intellectual, and physical excellence. Iona Prep was named Westchester’s only all-boys Catholic school to make the “NY top 100 private schools list” on nicheNiche.com. 

The 105-year-old school’s recent $10 million Centennial Campaign for Excellence has completely updated and renovated the Devlin Library & Center for Excellence at the Lower School with a focus on Project Based Learning, while the Paul Verni Fine Arts Center at the Upper School is presently realizing a 21,000-square foot expansion that will include a 409-seat theater with a full-size scene shop, in addition to an art gallery and new classroom space. 

For more information, visit www.IonaPrep.org.